In the 1980s, when I was living in northern Nagano Prefecture and hiking the mountains with members of the local Hunters Association, I was always making a lot of fuss about the depredation of ancient forests being instigated by the Forestry Agency — a branch of the national government that, at the time, had an independent budget and financed itself from the sale of timber. Of course, ancient timber was the most valuable, and although about 67 percent of Japan is covered with trees, less than 3 percent is old forest.